Protest of BHRT workers on Wednesday, February 3, 2016

The Independent Trade Union of BHRT workers most strongly condemns the negligence shown by the competent institutions towards the catastrophic state in which this media house finds itself and the removal from the agenda of the Council of Ministers meeting of the Amendments to the Law on the Public RTV System, which was supposed to enable the extension of the collection of the RTV fee through telecom operators until June 30 this year, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Since this act leaves BHRT without any means of collecting the fee, the Executive Board of the Independent Trade Union in BHRT at an emergency session decided to hold a warning protest on Wednesday, February 3, at 12:05, in the RTV home compound.

- We warn the authorities that this is the first in a series of steps we will take if the issue of RTV fee collection is not resolved as soon as possible! We remind the competent institutions that this country is soon to submit its application for EU membership, and protests by public service employees could complicate their submission of the application.

We also warn the institutions of power that, if we are forced to take further steps and take to the streets, we will call on all those whom we have followed in their protests and strikes in the past period to support us. We will also seek support from the SSS BiH and all journalists' associations, and we will also seek support from other media houses, in terms of an informational boycott of the work of all those institutions that have not fulfilled their obligation to ensure stable financing of the Public Services of BiH - the statement reads.